Use of Kinesiologic Therapeutic Tape on Pain, Trismus, Swelling and its Influence on Quality of Life after Mandibular Third Molar Surgery

Introduction: The surgical extraction of impacted mandibular third molar is a routine oral surgical procedure. However, it is often associated with post-operative inflammatory complications like pain, swelling, trismus, and discomfort during the initial postoperative days. This study chooses the use of a non-invasive, elastic Kinesiologic Tape (KT) for effective management of postoperative complications after surgical extraction of the lower third molar. Aim: To study the effect of KT on post-operative complications of surgical removal of impacted third molars like pain, trismus, swelling and its influence on the quality of life after third molar surgery. Materials and Methods: In the present interventional study, 76 patients who visited the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery with slightly or moderately difficult impacted lower third molar according to modified Pederson's index for surgical extraction were selected. Patients were randomly categorised into Group A (received analgesics and antibiotics alone) and Group B (received KT along with analgesics and antibiotics). Pain, trismus, swelling were assessed on the pre-operative day and 3rd, 5th, and 7th post-operative days and quality of life on 3rd, 5th, and 7th days post-operative. Data was analysed using SPSS (version 22). Independent t-test was used for inter group comparisons, and repeated ANOVA was done for intra group comparisons for various parameters to assess statistically significant difference. The p-value < 0.05 was taken as statistically significant. Results: Results indicated that the patients in Group B (with KT) had decreased pain (p-value= 0.0001), trismus (p-value=0.0001), swelling (p-value=0.0001) and improved quality of life (p-value=0.0001) when compared with Group A (without KT) on 3rd, 5th, 7th post-operative days. Conclusion: The KT is a simple, non-invasive, economical method that can be considered as a potential adjunct for managing post-surgical complications such as pain, swelling, trismus, and thereby improving the Quality of Life after impacted mandibular third molar surgery.